The Unmovable
Peggy Lindquist; First A Scary Building Purchase and Then A Landslide Hits
Damaging Sales at Her Corner Store
Small
Miracles Prevent Its Closure
By Diana L.
Chapman
Grim, more
grim and then grimmer.
It seemed
like someone was turning the lights out at the popular Corner Store in San
Pedro, known for its catchy community spirit and wacky-fun adventures from soda
tasting to a sidewalk chalking art contest for kids and a safe place for
neighbors to hang out.
Times were rough
already for the store when Peggy Lindquist and her husband Bruce took it over in 2006 and then purchased the
building in 2008 for $780,000. Despite all the snazzy attractions such as hundreds
of kids showing up to trick-or-treat or Santa's visit at "Miracle at 37th
Street" the road where the store is located, sales continued to stagnate.
"When
we bought the property, we thought that was the worst year," Peggy said.
"We didn't know how we would make it through that. We were basically
operating out of fear."
The couple
didn't know it at the time. Things would get much, much worse. In June 2011,
Paseo del Mar -- a major artery to the Corner Store buckled and then
turned into a sinkhole, closing down the road. By November, giant chunks of the
road slipped off into the sea. By now, 25 percent of the store's business
plummeted and with tears in her eyes, Peggy and Bruce, were getting ready for
layoffs -- and as a last resort --- the store's possible closure. At that moment, the couple had no idea that
their customers and the editor of a local magazine would rescue them.
"The
landslide," Peggy said, "was devastating."
They tried
to face it with humor offering up "Sink Hole specials" and
"Landslider Burgers." Even the 127 kinds of sodas from places like
Lebanon, England, Germany, Jamaica and France bearing odd names such as
Kick-A-Poo Joy or Jolt Cola or odd tastes -- dry cucumber or jalapeno -- were
not pulling people in during the worst economy since the Great Depression. The
real estate market had also bottomed out.
Customer Doug
Epperhart said of a potential closure: "Think about the individuals you
see at the Corner Store and then subtract them from your life. Huge loss. Where
else can you go and know you're going to see someone you want to see?"
Confiding
her fears to one customer, Lindquist later learned the woman went home and put
the news up on her face book page. It said something like: "'Help Peggy
and Bruce,'" Peggy said. "'They need help.' People started coming in
and saying: 'What can I do? What can we buy? We'll buy the biggest thing you
have."
The owners
found the generosity shocking and powerfully moving and then found even more
help from an unexpected corner. The editor, owner and publisher of San Pedro
Today, Joshua Stecker, placed a free ad in his magazine that said:
"Even a
landslide can't keep us down," and provided a map to the Corner Store.
"I was
just in tears," Peggy explained. "It meant so much to me. He did it out of the goodness of his
heart."
Stecker said
for him it was a slam dunk.
"Why
did I help Peggy? It's really a no brainer," the editor said. "I love
the Corner Store. I love everything it represents. It's that little slice of
Mayberry that we need to keep. We can't let that place fail."
Having dreamed
of owning such a store since childhood and having handled food operations for Knott's Berry Farm, Peggy found it
enticing that she could select her own programs for the store -- something
she'd never had a chance to do at Knott's.
Visiting the
Angels Gate Cultural Center, she said, was like a "colorful
explosion" so she invited 57 local artists from there to fill the walls, allowed
writing classes, art classes and fundraiser after fundraiser for many
non-profits in town including the Marine Mammal Care Center and the Point
Fermin Light House. She sunk her teeth into the community -- which she wanted
to do -- inviting in neighborhood meetings and jewelers
to sale their wares.
And while
sales remained low, Peggy believed she was building on the community spirit
first started by Susan McKenna who took it over in 1999 and who was later
joined by her friend Marisa Giuffre. The store originally opened as liquor
store 65 years ago and turned into a scuzzy, run-down building. But the
Australian women had other ideas of what such a store should be. In their
country, such places were meant for social gatherings where friendships were
built.
With a European flair, they succeeded in
making it exactly that, but decided to move on to other adventures.
With the
help from customers, the Lindquists have now landed on stable ground and sales
are climbing -- allowing her to bring in more products. The place is as colorful as any circus and Peggy
built on what she knew from Knott's-- old time Americana.
She added an
array of old fashioned candy, cow tales, Mary Janes, coconut bars and wax lips. Gourmet
deserts line the glass case from cheesecakes to a myriad of brownies - and a
plethora of tasty sandwiches with perky names such as: Walk the Plank, an
albacore tuna on squaw or croissant with lettuce and sliced tomatoes.
Another
addition Peggy likes to pride herself on is finding small entrepreneurial
products with cool quirks like Jerry's
Famous Hummus "an amazing" product as well as "All Peppered
Up" salsa and barbecue sauces.
The store is
also crammed with Melissa and Doug toys, including giant stuffed animals, large
giraffes, tigers, horses, make believe cooking play sets, ranches, stickers and
art supplies.
